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Dec 31, 2018

Best electronic albums of 2018: seven

Martyn last appeared in this top ten in 2011, when the only thing we had to worry about was people rioting and tearing our city centres apart.

Since then, something really significant happened. Martyn had a heart-attack. Yet instead of playing chess with a tall boke holding a scythe (ask your grandparents), he made this album.

Voidsis shuffling and dark, like a skellington in a closet. The chords on Nya are dour, and the suspended note on World Gate is unnerving. Yes, I said ‘skellington’.

The highlight is Manchester, Martyn’s tribute to drum 'n' bass artist Marcus Intalex: “deep deep down, we’ve lost a big one”. Intalex’s name was encased in Manchester’s modern electronic music history like black pudding in a Manchester egg.

Actually, staying on that theme for a moment… Manchester’s most characterful areas are currently being torn down by developers, in a more corporate reflection of the destruction of 2011.

Progress isn’t wrong: we just need to remember what’s important as things move on. In a personal way, this album is a testament to that.